Often people desire to begin a communication with a person or business but do not have the desired data to initiate that communication. In such a scenario, a caller can refer to a telephone book, which can include “white pages” listings and “yellow pages” listings of potential callees. While a telephone book can provide information regarding a desired listing, this information can be limited as relative location, amenities, and other information are generally not available as search criteria. As a nonlimiting example, telephone book listings are generally organized according to name or type of business (or both). While this can assist the caller in locating a desired listing, oftentimes this is the only criteria available to the caller for narrowing the search for a desired listing. Additionally, oftentimes a phone book is not readily available to the caller, as the caller could be using a public telephone, a cellular telephone, or otherwise not have access to a phone book.
As alternatives to the telephone book, the caller may call a directory assistance service or consult a directory assistance service provided via the Internet. Similar to a telephone book, a directory assistance service can provide a communications address (such as a telephone number, Internet Protocol address, email address, instant messaging address, or other data for initiating a communication) for a desired listing. However, this information can generally be provided to callers that know the name of the desired listing. A caller who does not know the exact name of the listing can oftentimes become frustrated in trying to locate the desired listing.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.